PITTSBURGH — For any true fan of Pittsburgh high school basketball, the name Meleek Thomas doesn’t just represent a player; it represents an era. Before he was lighting up SEC arenas for the Arkansas Razorbacks or headlining the Overtime Elite circuit in Atlanta, Thomas was ours. He was the kid from Midland who turned the WPIAL into his personal playground and proved that the “Steel City” still produces elite, five-star talent.
Watching Thomas at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School was like watching a masterclass in modern basketball. A 6-foot-4 combo guard with a velvet-smooth jumper and an “alpha” mentality, Thomas didn’t just win; he dominated. During his junior season alone, he averaged a staggering 23.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 3.3 steals per game. He wasn’t just a scorer; he was a nightly triple-double threat who made everyone else on the floor better.
For the local faithful, the peak of the Thomas era was the back-to-back PIAA Class 4A state championships in 2023 and 2024. In the 2024 WPIAL title game, he put up a game-high 21 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, and four assists, solidifying a legacy that saw him score 1,750 points in just three years at Lincoln Park. He was a two-time Trib HSSN Boys Basketball Player of the Year, a title that confirmed what we already knew: Meleek was the standard.
When he made the difficult decision to forgo his senior year in Pittsburgh to join the Overtime Elite (OTE) league, there was a collective sigh from local gyms. We lost the chance to see him hunt for a third straight state title, but we understood. As his coach, Mike Bariski, put it, “He did everything he needed to do where he’s from.”
Now, as a freshman at Arkansas, Thomas continues to carry the Pittsburgh torch. Even thousands of miles away, playing for a legendary coach like John Calipari, you can still see the grit he developed in Midland. He remains a “microwave scorer,” recently dropping 21 points against South Carolina and proving that his game translates to the highest levels of the NCAA.
For the fans who packed the gyms at Lincoln Park and followed him across the WPIAL, Meleek Thomas remains the ultimate “what if” in terms of a four-year high school career, but a “thank you” in terms of what he gave the city. He didn’t just play for a school; he played for a community that will be claiming him as their own long after he’s drafted into the NBA.